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Thursday, December 8, 2011

Unemployment Claims Have a Good Week

The government released the weekly total for new unemployment claims this morning and the number moved nicely downward to 381,000. This is the lowest figure in nine months, although it is still higher than the level which economists agree indicates a reduction in the unemployment rate. Strangely, although the official figure went down from last week by a large amount, the unadjusted number of new claims actually rose in that same period. The decline was due to the "seasonal adjustments" made by the government. Despite this disconnect between actual numbers and adjusted numbers, it is nice to report some hopeful economic news for once.

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